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First Contact?

Isn't it mentioned in the TNG episode "First Contact" that the Federation Prime Directive was established because of first contact with the Klingons before they were a warp capable society? Did I just imagine that, because it's contradicted all over the place?

Contact with the Klingons led to a change in first contact policies, not to the establishment of the Prime Directive. The Directive was likely in effect at the time the change to policy was made. As for contradictions, it's possible that, after the initial contacts seen on Enterprise, relations between the Federation and the Klingons became non-existant. (After all, would you want anything to do with people that were partially responsible for a virus that mutated your entire race?) Then, sometime around 2218, the Federation ran into the Klingons again, probably not knowing it was them for some reason or another. The result was disastrous, the Klingons became blood enemies of the Federation, and the Federation basically said "screw this, it's time for a change." --From Andoria with Love 02:24, 29 Oct 2005 (UTC)

In "Bread and Circuses" Kirk claimed responsibilty for drafting the Prime Directive, ironically. I think in the dialog, he said it was only recently enacted. But, I'd have to watch again and check on that.--Mike Nobody 02:30, 29 Oct 2005 (UTC)

All that was said about the prime directive in "Bread and Circuses" was that it was in full force when the SS Beagle chrash-landed on 892-IV in 2261. It never said how long it had been in force, although it seems to have not been too long before that. --From Andoria with Love 02:54, 29 Oct 2005 (UTC)

It was A Private Little War in which Kirk suggest it was his report that caused the Prime Directive to come into being. It was A Piece of the Action in which Kirk said the Prime Directive had not been enacted, but that was referring to 100 years ago. --TOSrules 03:33, 29 Oct 2005 (UTC)

Indeed he did. "No interference with normal social development. I'm not only aware of it, my survey 13 years ago recommended it." Of course, that could have just meant that he recommended no cultural contamination for that planet; it doesn't necessarily mean the prime directive was not in effect at the time. In other words, he suggested that further Starfleet interference with the planet's culture should be avoided - that the prime directive should be enacted for that planet. Knowhatimean? --From Andoria with Love 21:04, 29 Oct 2005 (UTC)

An orbital survey is enough to know if that planet needed the prime directive. The Prime Directive doesn't need someone to recommending it to be applied. --TOSrules 21:25, 20 Nov 2005 (UTC)

One would think so. Who knows? I just don't know why they would wait nearly a whole century after the founding of the Federation to decide, "Hey, you know what? The Vulcans were right!" I also don't see why it would take one lieutenant's report to stir Starfleet into action and create the Prime Directive. Here's hoping it gets explained in a future Trek series/movie. --From Andoria with Love 07:39, 21 Nov 2005 (UTC)

Just to be clear, the episode TNG: "First Contact" said nothing about the Prime Directive. The dialogue is: Picard - "Chancellor, no starship mission is more dangerous than first contact. We never know what we face when we open the door to a new world. How will we be greeted? What are the dangers? Centuries ago, a disastrous first contact with the Klingon Empire led to decades of war. It was decided then that we must do surveillance before making contact. It was a controversial decision. But I believe it prevents more problems than it creates." This raises questions as to what Picard meant by "decades of war" following first contact, but that is another discussion entirely . . . . Aholland 16:40, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Smooth forehead information

Is there a reason why the information from affliction and divergence is included in the background section instead of history, or even physiology? LordJuss 10:46, 1 Mar 2005 (GMT)

Cure?

(Removed beginning, not meant for MA) You know the cure didn't have to be found by the 2070's. After all not all Klingons were effected. the first time we see a TOS Klingon is in DS9 episodes. Of course if the Klingon from the Enterprise Episode is related to his ST4/ST6 counterpart it would be likely they found a cure by then. That is if it's a Direct relation.--TOSrules 07:49, 28 Feb 2005 (GMT)

Comment from Josiah Rowe 23:59, 28 Feb 2005 (GMT) removed, since it was responding to the part of TOSrules' post that he subsequently deleted.

Run that through the translator again, i didn't really get any of it. -- Captain Mike K. Bartel 08:50, 28 Feb 2005 (GMT)

The city of Kling?

This comes from an earlier version of the article:

The city of Kling, later to be known as the First City, was established as the seat of power. Thus the word TlhIngan (meaning 'those of Kling') came to be the name for the race - Klingon.

This strikes me as sheer speculation based around the reference in TNG: "Heart of Glory" to "the traitors of Kling". However, without any definitive proof, the origin of the name "Klingon" is pure speculation.

Note: notwithstanding the meaning given to the word "Klingon" in the new language of the same name, the inspiration for the word might have a less obscure source: Esperanto. It is known that the creator of the Klingon language knew about Esperanto. The word "klingo" means "edge" like that of a knife, and when used in a sentence it can take the -n at the end, like in the following example: "I am contemplating the edge and its beauty", in Esperanto is "Mi kontemplas la klingon kaj gxian belecon". Given the relationship between cutting weapons and the Klingon culture, it is not surprizing that the creator of the language would choose a word that (in Esperanto) means "edge" to be the name of the race and the language.

Interesting, but I think it merely a coincidence. Marc Okrand (if that is who is meant in the above) did not invent the word "Klingon". That was done in 1966; Okrand came on the scene in the early 1980s for the production of STIII. Aholland 15:08, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't know if we're meant to be drawing from the ST Encyclopaedia here, but it does directly answer the question of Kling. Risking a flame or two: the Encyclopaedia article says that it's a district or city on Qo'noS, that the name was originally intended to be the name of the planet, but that "it was realized that the name sounded pretty silly" - which of course it does - so the planet was just called 'the Homeworld' until they named it Qo'noS for ST:VI. - 207.195.243.69 02:46, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Images

Should more images of TOS Klingons or 24th Century warriors be added, rather than the Enterprise photo? -- Dmsdbo 01:35, 4 Jul 2004 (CEST)

Enterprise makeup is probably better ;). On the Klingon Civil War page there are multiple images of other Klingons, as well images of Worf can be used to supplement. However, I don't think it's a good idea to include TOS Klingons, as they just looked different because of budget/makeup limitations. Ottens 16:21, 4 Jul 2004 (CEST)

Copyvio reversion

I have reason to believe that the recent additions made by Valaraukar were a copyright violation. View this diff, and compare the information added with this DITL article (some info has been shifted around to fit our article, but the information, grammar and styling remain identical. I have reverted the changes made, and restored to last non-copyvio version. If it proves necessary, I will have to delete the article, and recreate the non-copyvio version. -- Michael Warren | Talk 22:27, Aug 28, 2004 (CEST)

MediaWiki 1.4 lets you undelete selected revisions, so you might want to delete the article, and then undelete everything prior to the copyvio being added. Angela 23:44, 2 Mar 2005 (GMT)

Minor ridges

I restored Lincolnian's observation some Klingons only having one ridge. It is a valid point especially with regard to Chang and Azetbur. -- Krevaner 23:42, 7 Mar 2005 (GMT)

Hammer

Does anyone have a good idea where to include the fact, that Klingons view the hammer as a symbol of power? Kennelly 14:51, 4 May 2005 (UTC)

The trouble, with...

...I removed, because I don't remember anyone sneezing or having an alergic reaction to the tribbles. Odo joked (to get Worf away from them) "Worf is... alergic, to tribbles". And also, the Tribbles reacted TO the klingons, not the other way around. - AJHalliwell 01:44, 20 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Actually, the Klingons did also react to the tribbles: They were totally repulsed by them. But that's not really an allergic reaction. Spatula 22:19, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Removed prehistory

I removed the following section that was added after this article is featured because a) the entire paragraph is written as non-canon speculation b) none of it is cited and c) it appears to be completely contributed by an IP address (which means it does need to be scrutinized moreso than it would from a major contributing player):

Little is known of the Klingons prior to the establishment of the Empire. Klingons being a prideful race with a closed society, they are averse to sharing their secrets. Being violent, belligerent, and anti-intellectual, it is hard to imagine that the Klingons developed their high level of technology and science (including warp drive) by themselves. Klingon religion also states that the first Klingons destroyed the gods who created them. Klingon physiology with its redundancies and great strength is also ideal for military operations. Based on the available information, some have theorized that the Klingons originated as a vassal race. They were possibly bred or genetically engineered as "shock troops", and then turned on their masters.

PNA Explanation

You don't really want a list of all episodes with Klingons? That will be longer than the article itself. The appearances thing can be overdone in some cases, this is one. --Memory 16:06, 16 Oct 2005 (UTC)

Emblem

I don't like how this page opens with a big pic of the emblem, it's suppose to be about the species not the empire. Does anyone mind if I remove it? Jaf 13:49, 28 Nov 2005 (UTC)Jaf

I don't mind its removal. If kept or moved within the article, it should be dated as TOS-era emblems had different colors. Aholland 17:17, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Lifespan?

Was it ever mentioned how long their average lifespan is? If several TOS Klingons were around in the TNG era, it is likely longer than humans'.--This user is not Jesus 08:22, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

I thought Klingon lifespans were actually supposed be shorter than humans. I seem to remember a quote "the shortest flame burns brightest" or something from some episode.... OK thats not much to go on obviously... sorry, maybe its just my imagination. --Anonymous Coward 01, October 2006

We don't know the exact lifespan, but we do know that Kang was in command of a starship in 2268 (the actor playing Kang was 46 at the time). It wouldn't be until 2370 (102 years later) that he would be die, and even that what not of natural causes. Similar stories for Kor and Koloth. -- Jaztalk 07:26, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Appearances

Sorry for editing the list, i must have missed something. Why is it supposed to be "scrambled" so to speak? Slipzen 22:05, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I should apologize for not explaining myself, but I was probably rushed at the time. I reverted the list because the appearances are in chronological order from an in-universe perspective; it's not supposed to be in order by episode. Hope that explains things. Sorry again. :) --From Andoria with Love 16:44, 4 April 2006 (PDT)

Klingon aging

This is my chart for Klingon Growth, taking in account the Klingon years that have passed. Right now it is 100% Alexander based. I don't know of any other rapid aging Klingons seen in Star Trek. Alexander is the lynch pin, the fact he said he was three years old within one human year (Season to season about a year distance) the chart works off a one earth year is three Klingon year idea. --TOSrules 17:26, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

Earth Years

Qo'noS Years

Physical Appearance

1

3

4 Earth Years

2

6

10 Earth Years

8

24

16 Earth Years

It should be remembered that Alexander's mother was only part-Klingon. His rapid aging could have something to do with his slightly exotic biology.

Production Issue?

Have we considered that this "Klingon Growth" is actually a similar condition to that found on many television sitcoms, soap operas, and other media? I mean there are plenty of times where a baby is born on a show in one season and by the beginning of the next season is replaced by a child much older (Growing Pains, Family Ties, Full House). This seems to be a typical logistical issue with regard to television and I think the article seems to take this a little too far.

I think age issue as it pertains to Alexander is just a production gaffe and should be removed as non-canon or italicized as a background note. --Topher208 12:58, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

I would agree, except that Trek provided us with an example where it was explained in another child, thereby establishing to me that the rules are different for Star Trek. --OuroborosCobratalk 14:31, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Spellings to follow the Dictionary and Galactic Traveler book?

I'm wondering is there ever going to be any effort

to include the Okrand spelling of Klingon words in the entries?

For instance veq'largh instead of or appended to Fek'lhr
or qel'argh appended to Key'lhr etc.
Wejvagh 21:45, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

Klingon anatomy description

As an anatomy specialist (IRL) I thought I would make some comments about Klingon anatomy, as shown in the diagram presented in the article.

The body is that of an adult male. For illustration we see only the left half of the subject dissected; the right half is complete and clothed. The intersection between the two halves is slightly to the left of the midsaggital line. The diagram omits the lower limbs below the ankle joints. Comparison is made with the human adult male.

The skull displays the familiar cranial ridges associated with this species. It is robustly constructed. There may be a flap of bone covering the superior temporal foramen which would lend strength to the zygomatic arch. There appears to be a plate of bone in the anterior triangle of the neck, protecting the airway and larynx.

There is no sternum visible (or it has been removed). The rib architecture is very different from the segmental arrangement seen in humans; instead a multi-articulated bony reticulum seems to protect the thoracic contents. This might require respiration to be more diaphragmatic in this species. In the mediastinum the heart can be seen.

The abdomen displays four organs. Two of these resemble the human liver (possibly stomach) and colon; the others are less identifiable. No genitalia or organs of reproduction are visible.

The upper limb articulates with the thorax via a robust clavicle-scapula articulation. The humerus has an un-named paired bone alongside, whose head articulates with the upper third of the diaphysis. The elbow and forearm are similar to those in humans. The forearm is prone and terminates in a carpus in which seven carpal bones may be seen; the metacarpals and phalanges are arranged as in humans.

The pelvic bones differ greatly from those in humans. The acetabulum is more inferiorly placed and its opening is directed more anteriorly. The angulation of the femoral neck is straighter and the head is larger. An un-named paired bone lies alongside the femur and articulates with it at the lesser trochanter. Both this bone and the femur appear to articulate directly with an enlarged patella which occupies the whole centre of the knee joint. The tibia and fibula are similarly arranged to those in humans.

In summary this individual displays several anatomical differences from the adult human. His robust musculoskeletal system denotes considerable physical strength and resistance to injury. Vivienne marcus 13:16, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

...son of...

Does anyone know when Klingons started to be called "X, son of Y" in the series? 172.202.222.184 01:15, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

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